Student Teaching Observations Jan.3 - Feb. 10th (Afflerbach Elementary)
Tuesday, January 3rd - WEEK 1
First day of school! Woohoo! I spent the majority of time working one-on-one with the students, getting to know their names, ability levels and interests. Afflerbach Elementary is a Title One school with a lot of students. Unfortunately, we only get to see each class once a week, but the kids were very sweet and I got a lot of pictures drawn for "Ms. Sylvania" today. Maybe I need to write my name on the board so the kids know it is "Ms. Sullivan". In the one below, I showed a student how to draw a dinosaur and they added laser-beam eyes, fiery wings and a city being attacked. It has already been stuck on my fridge.
I helped third grade finish their Day of the Dead animal project. They created animal silhouettes on black construction paper and drew white bones on the inside with acrylic paint. They all got to chose their own animals and they turned out really cute!
Wednesday, January 4th - WEEK 1
I tried wearing a new outfit today. I permanently kept my apron on all day and it was really helpful in multiple ways. It has a big pocket in the middle which allowed me to put my phone inside for photos, a tiny green sketchbook, and a pencil.
On Tuesday, I helped showed a student how to draw a house and instead of copying what I had done, she just cut out my example and glued it on her house. Oops. The sketchbook allowed me to show students what to do if they were stuck without them taking my examples Plus, I know always have a ready sketchbook to help others. I really enjoy it and I think I'll continue to use it throughout student teaching.
My mentor, Shannon Brown has a lot of homemade art posters around her room which talk about line, color, being kind, and properly using tools. She spent a lot of time on these and they're very useful for the students.
Friday, January, 6th - WEEK 1
Shannon encouraged me to teach my first lesson to 1st grade next week. I began to brainstorm ideas that would follow the GVC standards. I decided to make a lesson plan about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Students will create a collage of their PB & J sandwiches and use a mix of acrylic paint and cornstarch to create a tactile "peanut butter" and "jelly" that they can spread on their bread pieces. I think it will be fun. I tried a couple demos to see what would work best. They will paint plaid on a sheet of paper to create a tablecloth and then will placed their collaged paper over it.
Monday, January 9th - WEEK 2
I realized very quickly that I need to accommodate my lesson to tailor my students ability levels more. A lot of the students did a great job, but many struggled with instructions and following directions. Shannon explained that a lot of the students who attend Afflerbach function at lower ability levels than most kids their age. Over 86% of their students come from low-income families who are not always able to provide the best support for these children.
Sadly, many come from backgrounds of neglect or abuse. The way you approach and speak to each child differs wildly. Shannon explained that for many of her students, she focuses on just building their confidence in their own abilities and social skills within the art room.
There are typically at least 2-3 students with severe attention deficit disorders in each class and one or two on the spectrum. In some classes, a paraprofessional or a behavioral intervention specialist will accompany the students which is very helpful in managing the classroom.
When a B.I.S. or a para is unavailable, students will still come to class and come with a behavior chart. These charts are all specific to the individual students and Shannon and I will fill them out during class as we provide them support. We focus on positive affirmation and a LOT of re-direction.
Hugs are always welcome as we know that they are not always provided at home.
Wednesday, January 11th - WEEK 2
I have been trying very hard to learn both the names of the students and teachers at the school. I have been getting a few, but only seeing the students once a week makes it difficult. I've gotten to know the other specials instructors at the school and they are very welcoming! I've learned that it can feel isolating working as a specials teacher and it's important to foster relationships with other people who understand what it's like.
Especially at a school that it classified as Title One, fostering relationships with students and co-workers is the key to gaining trust and understanding.
Thursday, January 12th - WEEK 2
I began my first lesson with Kindergarten this week. There are three separate Kindergarten classes with about 15 students in each class, so I stayed very busy! Students learned about wild and domesticated hamsters to follow their GVC of learning about animals in their habitats. I experimented with simple ways for them to draw a hamster. I knew I eventually wanted these to be cut out and glued into a habitat, so I tried to keep them fairly simple. Some of these students are severely lacking fine-motor skills, so this offered more accommodation. There was a student in Shannon's Kindergarten class last year that did not know how crayons worked and was amazed that it could leave a mark on paper.
We all practiced drawing them together on white boards, and once the students had tried it together, they brought their boards to their table and drew them on paper. The lesson was a little crazy, but I know what to improve on next time! I need to make these cute little hamsters a bit more simple. Back to the drawing board!
Tuesday, January 17th - WEEK 3
1st grade painted their plaid tablecloths with watercolor for their PB & J collages this week. I'm realizing I need to be a bit more specific with the next week of instruction for them, but they turned out very cute and they (mostly) did a good job of following directions. I demonstrated using a document cam and explained what vertical and horizontal lines are. Using our hands as tools to space out the lines, we created thick and thin vertical lines in two colors and then did the same with horizontal lines.
Thursday, January 19th - WEEK 3
6th grade finished up their chalk print drawings from before break and were in need of a new project. I asked my mentor if I could teach them my Whingdingdilly lesson plan I created at the University of Wyoming. She seemed unsure if they would like it, but agreed. I began to plan and prepare materials I would need for this.
Shannon and I spent a lot of time co-prepping for other classes together like 5th grade, 1st grade, and Kindergarten.
Friday, January 20th - WEEK 3
Many students at Afflerbach have diverse means of communication. We have one deaf/hard of hearing student who uses ASL to communicate. I've been so excited to have her in class because I can use my own ASL skills that I learned in college. I'm trying to learn more outside of class time so we can communicate more effectively.
We also teach a selectively mute student and many ESL students who need support. We do not have a translator who can accompany students, so many students translate for each other. Shannon and I use visual aids and a lot of labels around the room to help these students. If something is labeled in English, it is usually labelled in Spanish as well as accompanied with a visual aid.
Ex.)
- Draw a grey cat.
- Dibujar un gato gris.
-(Picture of a pencil drawing a grey cat
Monday, January 23rd - WEEK 4
Kindergarten re-drew and colored their hamsters. They were offered a lot of choice on what colors, expression, and patterns they wanted to have. Prior to drawing our hamsters, I showed them a PowerPoint presentation which showed the different kinds of hamsters and what colors they could be. They had so much fun coloring with bright colors last time, that I didn't limit their color palate. They turned out much better this time!
Wednesday, January 25th - WEEK 4
In 6th grade, I introduced the book "The Whingdingdilly" by Bill Peet. Students chose 3 positive qualities they had to write down in a list. Then they had to think of one animal per quality that shared that trait to write next to it. Students could chose more than 3, but it was required to have at least 3.
They were then asked to draw a new animal or Whingdingdilly of their own by combining parts of their own animals. Students really struggled with this step, but they had multiple forms of aid to help them along. Shannon and I provided step-by-step tutorials and animal reference photos for them to look at.
They had so much fun naming their new animals and combining the unique parts of themselves.
Thursday, January 26th - WEEK 4
I am not independently teaching 4th grade at this time, but I am actively involved in assisting every class. In one of the 4th grade classes, I noticed a piece of artwork that particularly concerned me. The words "stupid", "die", and "dumb" were written over and over in her artwork. I noticed when I was home, looking through photos of student work.
I called my mentor and brought this student to her attention, sending her the picture. I asked what we could do to help and provide support to her. We were able to contact the school counselor and she is now receiving supplemental mental and emotional aid. While this was a sad experience, it showed me how valuable teachers are in noticing minor changes in student behavior which can snowball into more dangerous situations.
Tuesday, January 31st - WEEK 5
I've worked hard creating clay tutorials for students and posting them publicly on YouTube so I can pull them up at leisure from any device. For fourth grade, I created a coil mug demo which was about 20 minutes long and another demo for 6th grade which I was able to shorten to about 10 minutes.
In the 6th grade demo, I sped up some sections so students could still see what I was doing, but it wouldn't be so long they would lose focus. The 6th graders seemed much more engaged in the demo. Through both videos, I played them on the big projector and explained what I was doing in person. This was very effective and I enjoyed that I was able to pause the demo at points to emphasize techniques or answer questions. Both of my 6th grade classes needed more time to work on their Whingdingdilly drawings so I gave them 20 minutes at the beginning of class to finish them and add any last details they wanted.
With so many clay projects going on at once, my mentor and I have been getting creative about utilizing space in our room.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ0O9iAQE1g
4th grade also started the clay coil mugs today. I realized the demo was way to long for them to sit through, and many lost focus so when it came time to create, they didn't know what to do. I had to individually help students to counter this which also made things difficult. However, they did understand the basics and did a good job building up their walls as well as attaching their pieces.
Thursday, February 2nd - WEEK 5
1st grade finished their peanut butter and jelly collages. We listened to an ABC mouse song about how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The students loved it and were singing it while they made their artwork. It was very cute.
They glued their plate, bread, and napkin of their choice onto their placemats. Once all of their pieces were glued on, they spread their "peanut butter" and "jelly" onto their bread pieces with a real spoon. The peanut butter and jelly were made by mixing acrylic paint and cornstarch together to give it a tactile quality. They had the option to chose between "grape" or "strawberry" jelly for their collages.
Friday, February 3rd - WEEK 5
Kindergarten drew their hamsters a domestic or pet habitat. They had to include one wheel, one water bottle and bedding for their hamster. We talked about other things they might like to include like a hide-a-way, tunnels, food bowls, and seeds.
We also learned about wild hamsters that live in the desert. The students practiced drawing hamsters again, but this time they were surrounded by cactus and sand like they would if they were found in nature.
Tuesday, February 7th - WEEK 6
Today was my first observation! I was a little nervous, but Andrea Verosky was very kind and she gave me a lot of really positive input. During her observation, one of my first grade classes went on an in-class field trip to hunt for biofilm on the river. I dressed up with a fishing vest, fishing hat and binoculars. I introduced myself as "Ms. Sullivan, your river guide" and created and interactive PowerPoint presentation.
Throughout the presentation, I had a clicker hidden in my hand. Every time the class wanted to take a closer look at the biofilm, we would "row" from the carpet to move the boat further down. The students loved it and they were all actively participating.
I showed them how biofilm builds upon itself by using a cup with water and dishsoap in it. By blowing through a straw in the cup, bubbles overflowed from the cup like biofilm forms. From there, I asked my mentor, Shannon, to catch the bubble as I blew it off the cup and demonstrated how biofilm breaks off at a certain point and the process starts again.
After the PowerPoint, I demonstrated how they would be making their biofilm bubble prints and the students got to work. They were so cute and had a blast blowing their bubbles, getting messy, and making a unique artform.
Wednesday, February 8th - WEEK 6
It was clay day 2 for the 6th grade Whingdingdillies. I am so glad I have been able to stretch out this project and not rush through things. Teaching 6th grade has been so fun and they are one of my favorite grades to teach so far.
I started class by showing them Enrique Gomez De Molina and his work with taxidermy. One of my artist prompt questions was, "If you were to re-name this animal, what would you call it?" One of my favorite responses to this question was "A disgrace." It wasn't the answer I was looking for but it made me giggle.
Friday, February 10th - WEEK 6
Wow! Crazy day. I have learned a lot about behavioral intervention specialists, classroom management, and learning for indicators of an outburst.
1st grade was working on their biofilm bubble project today and a student showed up which had not been in class for awhile. I had no prior knowledge about this student or his behavior, but he came into class with a behavior chart and the teacher warned me that he had been having a difficult morning.
During the lesson he became frustrated, crossed out his artwork, threw a pen and sat in the corner of the room, refusing to participate. My mentor and I gave him some time to breathe and calm himself before asking if he'd like to try again. He agreed to try again and I was happy he wanted to give it another try.
"Great job! I'm proud of you for trying again and not giving up." I said as I knelt down next to him. I offered my hand out as a low high five and was promptly hit as hard as he could with a punch to my arm. I told him that hurt me and that was not a nice response.
The rest of the class went relatively smoothly until the class lined up at the door to leave. I noticed this same child was pushing and yelling at other children in line, obviously cutting others and upsetting a little girl. I asked him to stand by me at the back of the line and gently told him he was hurting his friends.
This is when he snapped. He grabbed a chair, ready to throw it at the line of kids at the door. Worried for the other student's safety, I grabbed the leg of the chair and guided it back to the floor and told him he needed to let go. He did, only to start knocking over other chairs, dragging tables around the room, uprooting my mentor teacher's rug from the floor and dragging it in a lump across the entire room. I watched in horror, unsure of what to do. My mentor teacher told me to let him have his fit and she called a behavioral team to intervene. Four women came in to take him from the room while Shannon and I kept the kids lined up, safe and distracted from the situation. We also distracted the next class waiting to come in after with the help of their classroom teacher.
The 1st grader was removed but the art room was left in disarray. Our next class was so sweet and they helped us put our room back together and we moved on like nothing ever happened.
On a lighter note, the 1st grade biofilm microorganisms came out so cute. They loved watching videos on how microorganisms move and wiggle and they were grossed out and fascinated that these little creature live inside biofilm.
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